On Tuesday, four individuals were fatally shot in a house in Maine, shortly before gunfire wounded three others on a busy highway, in a pair of crimes that have been linked together by the authorities.

The shootings are part of a recent spate of mass killings that have occurred in various communities, including a Christian elementary school in Nashville, a bank in Louisville, and a Sweet 16 party in a small Alabama city.

Following the Maine shootings, a man named Joseph Eaton, 34, of Bowdoin, was charged with four counts of murder in the evening, although authorities did not disclose a possible motive or identify the victims, the Associated Press reported.

The crimes began in rural Bowdoin where the bodies were found, and later gunfire was reported 25 miles (40 kilometers) south on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth.

Law enforcement officers, some carrying long rifles, were seen canvassing the areas near the highway after the shootings, and a person of interest was detained, while one person was seen in handcuffs, according to witnesses.

Police closed a section of the interstate highway and residents and businesses in the area were ordered to shelter in place for around 90 minutes before authorities determined there was no threat to the general public.

In Bowdoin, a farming community with about 3,000 residents, law enforcement officials were present at the scene of the shooting, with marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles and a crime scene van parked outside.

A woman was seen speaking to the police outside the house before dropping to her knees and sobbing, and hearses were later seen leaving from the driveway.

Written by staff